


Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

by AkakoDukes



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2017-11-08 07:18:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/440607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkakoDukes/pseuds/AkakoDukes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Of course he would have been here, hidden amongst the grass..." Merlin goes looking for Gwaine.  </p>
<p>Shameless fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Have You Ever Seen The Rain?

**Author's Note:**

> OTP feels, okay? With the rivers of fics that have Merlin choosing Arthur over Gwaine, I felt that our poor Gwaine should stop getting shafted.

Of course he would have been here, hidden amongst the grass, in his old peasant clothes, the knight long gone. It was just the wandering man here, quiet in the solitude of the glen. Merlin couldn’t help but smile as he walked forward, taking a seat beside Gwaine. 

“Could hear you coming a mile away, Merlin,” Gwaine said softly as he watched the way the clouds rolled in from the west. 

“I wasn’t trying to sneak.” 

“I could tell.” Gwaine offered a piece of the same sweet grass he had between his teeth in a silent peace offering. Probably to make up for his words. 

With a smile, Merlin took the grass and put it between his teeth, letting the flavor burst over his tongue. “We missed you at the midday meal. Gwen was worried. It’s not often you miss meals, you know.” 

Russet eyes darted over before returning to the task of twirling another piece of sweet grass between his fingers. “Well, you know. Just needed to be out of the castle.” His eyes darted over to Merlin once or twice, as if to make sure he was still there. 

“Feels like it’s more than that.” Merlin plucked at the grass between his crossed legs, eyes not once leaving the hunched form beside him. 

“I’m all right, Merlin,” Gwaine offered, looking up so that Merlin could see the corners of his lips turn up in an unconvincing smile. The sword calloused hands gently rolled across the botanical blades the way one might caress a lover. 

Spindly fingers reached over to stop the trek of the knight’s hand. “No you’re not.” Merlin gripped the strong hand in his own. “You know you can talk to me.”

A moment’s hesitation. “I know. You should probably be getting back to Arthur. Looks like rain.” The smile under the beard turned sad, eyes darting up toward the splotchy sky. 

“Arthur has a whole castle of servants to see to him. I know exactly where I want to be, and it’s not there. What’s a little rain matter if I’ve got you?”

The reaction was immediate. Gwaine acted as if shocked by lightning. Merlin couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. 

“You really think I haven’t noticed? You haven’t been to the tavern as much lately, and you’ve had no maidens to your chambers in months according to the gossips around the castle. And I’m not blind, Gwaine.” Merlin let his voice soften as he tightened his grip on the hand under his. “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking.” 

“But Arthur-”

“But Arthur nothing. Arthur is quite content with Guinevere, despite what you, and maybe some of the townspeople, seem to think. Even if Arthur were interested, he’s an arrogant prat. You may be just a bit arrogant-” Gwaine squawked before Merlin’s other hand shot out to shush him, “-but you’re not a prat. You had it right. Nobility is defined by what you do, not who you are.” Gwaine’s beard was scratchy against Merlin’s fingers, and his breath warm and steady. “By your actions alone, you are royalty in my eyes.” 

Merlin couldn’t tell if those were honest tears on Gwaine’s face, or the rain that had started to fall heavily just seconds before, the drops cool on his warm skin, soaking into his thin clothes in just a matter of seconds. 

It was worth feeling like a drowned rat, however, once Gwaine smiled. Gwaine had a great many types of smiles, Merlin had discovered over the last year or so. There was the ‘I’m up to something’ smile, which made his eyes crinkle up close to his nose, and a corner of his mouth would raise higher than the other. His ‘I’m about to hit this prat in the nose’ face, which he often got when sparring with Arthur on the training field. But this smile, the ‘I’m just so happy it feels like I could take on the world’ smile, was by far, Merlin’s favorite. His whole face was like a ray of sunshine with the way it lit up. His eyes squinted and made a pattern like birds feet at the outer corners. And after a few seconds at that blinding brightness, his eyes would flutter downward, as if unsure if he should be this happy. 

Merlin had seen that particular smile falter at this point far too many times. It would break his heart to see it do so now. So before it could get that far, Merlin let the hand on Gwaine’s lips wander into the luxurious, if soaked, hair atop Gwaine’s head, cupping the base of his neck. Assured he had the knight’s attention, he smiled back before his lips pressed firmly against Gwaine’s own. 

They were warm, wet with rain water, and very willing to be kissed. Once Merlin found it in himself to pull away, they were both soaked to the bone and grinning like loons. Seconds stretched into a minute, before Merlin spoke. “Have I finally rendered you speechless?” He could feel the burn of smiling for so long. It had been too long since he’d had the occasion. 

Gwaine’s laugh was sweeter than the grass the both of them had chewed. “Wouldn’t be the first time.” He tried to flick the hair out of his face from habit. When he failed, he shook his head like a shaggy dog, causing Merlin to jerk a bit away. 

“You’re terrible!”

“I know. Now come here, I’m not done with you.” How could Merlin resist when Gwaine sat there with long strands of chestnut hair in his face, soaked with the rain. He let the strong arms pull him up and over the knight as the rain pelted his back. It wasn’t until Gwaine lay back that he felt a hard object poke his hip. Merlin made a noise and pulled back, only to be stopped by that strong grip on the sides of his face. “Just my sword, I swear.” 

Their laughter could be heard all through the glen as the sun began to shine through a break in the clouds, though the rain continued to fall. 

It would be many hours before Percival and Elyan found the two intertwined, still a bit damp, staring up at the stars.


End file.
